Chuck Smith monitors the manufacturing process of the series 6 solar panels during a tour of a First Solar plant in Walbridge, Ohio, on Oct. 6, 2021.
Dane Rhys | Reuters
First Solar shares plunged Wednesday, after CEO Mark Widmar said the scale and depth of President Donald Trump’s tariffs were unexpected and pose a “significant economic headwind” to the company’s manufacturing facilities.
Widmar said the implementation of new trade policies by Trump was viewed by First Solar as a possibility, but the tariffs imposed by the president earlier this month have “introduced significant challenges to 2025 that were not known at the start of the year.”
First Solar stock was trading about 11% lower by 9:31 a.m. ET. The shares are down about 20% year to date.
First Solar is the largest, publicly traded manufacturer of solar modules in the United States. Wall Street analysts have viewed First Solar as the company that is best positioned in the solar industry to weather tariffs because it has invested in manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
Analysts at KeyBanc, Oppenheimer and Jefferies downgraded First Solar’s stock after the company reported its first-quarter financial results Tuesday afternoon.
First Solar stock performance
Widmar said Trump’s tariffs “create a significant economic headwind” for First Solar’s plants in India, Malaysia and Vietnam. The facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam serve the U.S. market exclusively, while the site in India serves South Asia and North America, he said. First Solar might have to reduce or idle production at the Malaysia and Vietnam factories. he said.
The uncertainty about whether Trump’s tariffs will remain at 10% or increase after the president’s 90-day pause “has created a challenge to quantifying the precise tariff rate that would be applied to our module shipments into and beyond the second half of this year,” Widmar said.
First Solar cut its full-year forecast in response to Trump’s tariffs, with the company now estimating earnings of $12.50 to $17.50 per share and revenue of $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion. The upper end of the guidance anticipates the 10% tariffs remain in place through this year. First Solar was previously expecting earnings of $17 to $20 per share in 2025 and sales of $5.3 billion to $5.8 billion.
Widmar said the outlook for solar demand is strong over the long term due to rising power demand in the U.S. First Solar is lobbying Congress and the Trump administration to keep manufacturing tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act in place, he said.
